The shameless violence of French police

FRANCE

Pascal Riché

L’Obs

“Where’s Steve?” That phrase appeared in graffiti all over the city of Nantes for a month, says Pascal Riché. It was also a Twitter hashtag (#OuEstSteve). It refers to 24-year-old Steve Maia Caniço, who—along with 13 other late-night revelers at a music festival on the banks of the Loire—was attacked in June by police hurling stun grenades, and fell into the river. Steve couldn’t swim; his body washed away and was found only last week. It’s a shocking case, but far from unique. This sort of police brutality has become commonplace since the Yellow Vest protests started late last year. Officers routinely charged at demonstrators and blasted them with tear gas, causing numerous injuries and the death of an elderly woman. At a peaceful climate change rally in Paris recently, activists shouting “Go easy, officers, we’re doing it for your children” were also sprayed with tear gas. Yet far from being held to account, officers involved in such incidents get promoted. President Emmanuel Macron denies the abuses, saying it’s wrong to use the term “police violence.” How different from the student riots of 1968, when there were no deaths, not least because Paris’ police chief warned that to hit a fallen demonstrator was to “strike yourself.” Today’s cops have no such scruples. “Brutality is a choice.”